With only a smattering of votes left to be counted in this Fall’s midterm elections, Santa Barbara mayoral candidate Kristen Sneddon has amassed a statistically insurmountable lead over her chief mayoral rival, councilmember Eric Friedman.
Friedman, a nine-year councilmember famous for spinning late night soliloquies full of historical references and quotations, conceded defeat earlier in the day. “I’ve been better and I’ve been worse,” Friedman said. “But I congratulated Kristen and thanked her and wished her well.”
The number of votes left to be counted, he said, did not open wide enough statistically to credibly contemplate a possible victory. “At the end of the day, I’m grateful to be able to have run for office in a city where voters took the issues as seriously as they did and studied our positions as hard as they did here,” he said…